Pitigliano:
Osteria dell'Acqua Ardente

Tufo Allegro is closed? You are on a tight budget? You are not really that hungry but feel like having a quick snack and a glass of wine? This is your place!

We were all the following three things: we didn't feel like having a full lunch, we were, as usual, on a budget and Tufo Allegro was closed anyhow.

In a library (Stampa Alternativa, owned by one of the best Italian publishing houses!) we asked for some place to eat cheap and we were sent to Acqua Ardente; a new place with a very young crowd that caters to local workers and tourists as well.

The food offered by Acqua Ardente is based on what we may call "Tuscan fast food", meaning with "fast food" crostini, small bruschette, salame, prosciutto (pork and boar), cheese, wine, and a selection of homemade sweets. Each day they also offer a couple of hot dishes. When we were there they had handmade spaghetti with an olive sauce, tagliatelle al ragł and roasted arista served with an apple sauce.

We chose the fast food solution and shared a selection of bruschette (four, one with tomato and basil, one with a creamy salsiccia spread (ciauscolo), one with lardo di colonnata and one with zucchine, a selection of pork and boar "affettati" (coppa, a delicious prosciutto, salame and other local products), a selection of pecorino cheeses with honey.

Everything was delicious, at least everything I tasted was delicious. The cheeses were delicious according to what my mom and Luca said, since the cheeses were all too aged for me (allergies) - so I skipped them and asked for two more pieces of bruschetta with zucchine.

Throw in a botle of water and a half liter of good red house wine. We rounded out our meal with three different choices of dessert: sfratti (an old Jewish sweet made with a thin outer crust of unleavened bread filled with nuts and honey), mostaccioli (hard semisweet biscuits to be dipped in white wine) and small bisquit cups filled with three different marmelades and jams (orange, pumpkin and strawberries with balsamic vinnegar). All for 41.

This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com.